Thursday, June 4, 2009

Summer Breaks (My Heart)

Selfishly, because we usually don't have all the crowds and lines doing our "normal" learning stuff like playgrounds, parks, zoos, museums, grocery stores and so forth. But moreso due to the prevailing reminder of how the masses have been completely turned off from learning. It's really sad.

Case and point. We headed up to the old elementary we used to attend two and a half years ago. It was our EXPO teacher's last day before retirement, and we wanted to wish her well. She couldn't wait to start the next chapter! "Lynn" had taken a job with Lego-- Yeah, Lego; how cool is that-- after EXPO was taken outta of school. She was given the task of doing TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) math prep for the district. Bummer, because EXPO was the only "fun" subject a select number of kids had. Not a bummer was the huge box she filled up for us with learning games and cool math books!

That was awesome, but the handful of frustrated teachers and bored-to-coma students was curious. What are they moping for? Summer's here! Several shared the point that "yeah, but it hadn't started yet," or "so what... we just have to come back in August."

What an aspiration, eh? To learn by repetition to do what you're told, so that one day you won't be so discouraged when your work hours are increased, paycheck cut and hafta simply "do what you're told," some more...

I'm sorry. That's complaining, and negative issues already have too much spotlight. So, thank GOD we have a box full of even more cool stuff to be excited about. This I would wish on every kid!

Whoa!!! I almost forgot the best part! The part that mends this heart... When we left, it was with the 2nd grade girl struggling with math and my 1st grade boy unable to read. Now, after two years of playing, imagining, playing, watching movies, reading funny books and playing, I have a girl that's consumed with problem-solving games and puzzles, and a boy almost obsessive with characters, plots, scenes and settings of movies.

Heck-- We can't wait for the next day, let alone the whole summer!

3 comments:

Karen said...

Good for your kids! And, I am cracking up about the teacher who didn't know 15 times 3.
Sometimes I wonder how we got into this situation, of crummy schools that teach the wrong things. I'm doing the best I can for my family, at least, and hopefully our example (and yours, and others) will help bring about some change.

Thanks for this post!
K

Anonymous said...

I am so happy for your children! Isn't it amazing -- sometimes they are learning so much, so fast, by simply living their lives, that it makes your vision blur just to look at them!

Joie said...

YAY! Your children have a great life like mine. The difference between our children is, mine have never stepped foot in a school. For that I have to thank all the families like yours. I had been adamantly searching out homeschooling and what is was about exactly....I loved all the options. I chose unschooling because my children had been unschooling all their lives so far, and they were moving along just fine as it was. So, i decided why not just continue down the path. Well, I am just so grateful for blogs like this, it gives me so much support, and validation! Have a great summer!